Funday Monday: Crowdsourced Tenable Edition

By | May 20, 2019

Chris M Dickson has a challenge for you:

Crowdsourced Tenable

We’ve had Fabricated Pointless, here’s a new thrill: Crowdsourced Tenable. I post a list and between us we work out what the top ten answers are.

What are the ten longest-running TV game shows in the UK that are still running?

Terms of engagement: we’re talking long-running in terms of time since first episode in the current run, rather than in terms of number of series, number of episodes or anything else. You know, intuitively, what the difference is between a show taking a normal break between series and a show going away then coming back later. For instance, that show which has run for lots of years but which used to alternate series with that other show can trace its history back to its first series without interruption. On the other hand, that show which ran for lots of years with one host, then took a long break and came back with a brand new host can only claim to have been still running since the new host brought it back. TV shows only, please, we can do radio shows (and radio shows that had a series or two on TV as well) later.

Special difficulties: for the first two days, we’re going to do this off the top of our heads. You can probably work this out accurately by going to ukgameshows.com, looking up the long-running category and seeing the shows’ actual dates. However, where’s the fun in that? Once we’ve worked out a consensus opinion as to what the top ten might be, then and only then can we actually look the answers up and see if we were right.

University Challenge, Mastermind, Countdown are obvious contenders. Maybe even Only Connect, Pointless and The Chase as well. Anyway, off you go.

56 thoughts on “Funday Monday: Crowdsourced Tenable Edition

  1. Brig Bother Post author

    The interesting thing here is that I’d probably use one of the daytime quizzes as a guess just as a marker.

    Reply
  2. Chris

    Mastermind can only count its recent incarnation, since it definitely went away / to radio / another network before being revived, but that’s still a long time.
    University Challenge’s current incarnation is also a long one.
    Countdown seems an obvious contender, probably the longest running of your suggestions.

    Then I am resigned to admitting that Pointless and The Chase are very long running too, given the narrow range of shows that are currently considered airing.

    Using Ben Justice’s logic, I might guess that * Quiz of the Year qualifies too..

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    1. Brig Bother Post author

      Good call, they must have been doing that for over a decade now.

      A Question of Sport will be the longest running one, won’t it?

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          1. Matt Clemson

            Yeah, the quiz is straight, although there’s been a number of more ‘gamey’ round formats through the years (get a question right and your captain gets the opportunity to try to score a penalty, that sort of thing, and some more puzzley rounds)

            I rather enjoy watching it to find out which game show they’re stealing ideas from next! There’s one round that’s clearly derived from Million Pound Drop that works reasonably well and they’ve played a lot.

          2. Des Elmes

            What does it say about me that I’ve never warmed to the Captains’ Challenges (and have only reluctantly accepted that they have become an important part of the show), and indeed have never really warmed to *any* of the non-traditional rounds, except perhaps for On The Buzzer (which dates back to when Ally McCoist and John Parrott were the captains)?

            Still seems hard to believe that Sue’s now the longest-serving host – I remember the buzz when she took over from David Coleman, even though I was in primary school at the time (see, at least one young person *does* prefer the traditional format to the Captains’ Challenges). During last year’s Christmas Stool Pigeon, someone said that Dan Walker would replace her – he’d certainly be one of the most obvious candidates for the job when she finally leaves, but so would Clare Balding and I wouldn’t be at all surprised if it was decided that another woman should take it.

            And there will *definitely* be at least one call for a first-ever female captain when Dawson and/or Tuffers finally decide(s) that enough is enough. There hasn’t been a full-time black captain either – so expect a push (and maybe even a petition) for someone like Ebony Rainford-Brent or Nicola Adams to be appointed.

    2. Brandon

      Mastermind has been going about 15 years now, and it’s unclear if A Question Of Sport is still going as I’m sure there were serious discussions about cancelling it at one point ,and it changed a lot of the format to make it a rip-off of A League of Their Own for one series.

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      1. Brig Bother Post author

        Yes it’s still going, it might have been on the other week actually. It was one of the BBC shows put to tender recently.

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          1. Steve Williams

            I remember reading somewhere that when they put it out to tender, one of the conditions of producing A Question of Sport would be that Dan Walker would do it – but I must have imagined that.

          2. Des Elmes

            Well, it *was* said during last year’s Christmas Stool Pigeon that Dan would replace Sue – but afterwards, David B said that one of the reasons why BBC Studios retained the tender was that they had tied up Sue on an exclusivity contract.

            Once again, I wouldn’t be at all surprised if Clare Balding was named as Sue’s successor. Obviously, Clare’s a woman, and women are extremely important these days (no sexism intended whatsoever) – but she’s also well capable of displaying a sense of humour, which has always been a necessity for hosting a show like QoS.

            And who will be the first-ever female team captain…?

          3. Brig Bother Post author

            As we always say with the Stool Pigeon, we can’t verify anything, there may be grains of truth but I wouldn’t suggest anything written as 100% fact, only the people who write in know that.

  3. TheLupineOne

    Countdown was the first thing that came to my mind as well. Does the Eurovision Song Contest count?

    Reply
  4. Chris B

    Apart from the obvious candidates – Who Dares Wins is surely a candidate for “dark horse” in this list. I think it’s both older than The Chase and Pointless.

    Simply because Tenable is in the title, it seems the celeb editions were only on for two weeks in it’s Sunday slot. Anyone know if this was because it’s been moved due to maybe bad ratings, or if it’s just because it’s ITV and nearly summer?

    Reply
    1. Brig Bother Post author

      Great call on Who Dares Wins, which Nick Knowles famously tweeted is the longest running Saturday night show of all time.

      Reply
      1. Brig Bother Post author

        Tenable All-Stars: My understanding is that they only shot three, one with politicians which they’re having to postpone because of the Euro Elections on Thursday, and Anne Widdicombe is a contestant.

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        1. TheLupineOne

          Ooh, thanks for the idea: Have I Got News For You, maybe?

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        2. Brandon

          How did they not realise this ages ago? Did they just assume we didn’t have anything to do with Euro elections now?

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  5. Jason

    Bargain Hunt must be getting close to 20 – but was it one run or cancelled and quickly resurrected?

    The Chase, Only Connect and Pointless are all around the ten year mark – which feels like a good starting point until you think about the Reality TV and Panel Shows that have been going longer – pretty sure I’m A Celeb, Strictly, Got Talent, 8/10 Cats, HIGNFY and Mock The Week have been running more than that although not all of them may count as one run.

    Reply
    1. Chris B

      I don’t think Bargain Hunt has ever been cancelled. Tim Wonnacott was given the boot, but in that announcement it was stated.

      I think all the reality/panel shows you mention have had pretty consistent runs, I think only 8 out of 10 cats has been away for any considerable time, but always maintained the same host!

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      1. Chris B

        *it was stated that the series would continue.

        Right, I’ll stop posting now…!

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      2. Brig Bother Post author

        Actually if we’re counting panel shows then Have I Got News For You is one.

        It basically depends on how nebulous the term ‘gameshow’ is really, as far as we’re usually concerned if a) there’s some sort of game with b) winners and losers, then it is one even if that isn’t the central focus. A reality show is just a long form gameshow with an outside bit. A panel show is a gameshow but nobody cares who wins as it’s just a peg to spark the comedy off. But they keep points anyway.

        The Eurovision Song Contest once called itself “the world’s biggest gameshow”, so there’s that.

        Reply
    1. Chris B

      Gah, I had the same thought as Jason, re: Bargain Hunt and posted at the same time, wasn’t bringing his guess into question!

      Reply
  6. Alex McMillan

    How we feeling about Ant & Dec’s Saturday Night Takeaway on this list?

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    1. Jason

      iirc, AADSNT was a few years after Noel’s House Party so could be 15+ years at this point – however the 2019 cancellation would probably qualify as “going away” even though they’ve committed to the 2020 series.

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      1. Chris B

        There was a larger break from 2009-2013 which is more problematic for SNT. I think if this was the first year it had missed since 2002 it would be harsher to exclude it.

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  7. Chris B

    I have been thinking about this too much this morning (can you tell?) I know the Stool Pigeon has it down as soon to be demised, but “as it stands” Eggheads would surely be on the list.

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    1. Brandon

      That’s been running since 2003, that would definitely be up there somewhere.

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    2. Brig Bother Post author

      Yes that’s a good answer.

      Could we still count Eggheads if no no episodes are produced but it ran repeats for several years?

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      1. Matt Clemson

        Yeah, I was wavering on Eggheads. Would a fair criterion be something along the lines of “No more than a year gap between new episodes”?

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        1. Chris B

          What was the deal with Eggheads? Trying not to look it up, but was it that they had so many “in the bank” that they didn’t need to record for a while, or was it only broadcasting repeats for years?

          If it’s a production break, didn’t Pointless have 12 months where they didn’t film but there were still new episodes on TV? That would be in danger of the same classification, as probably would Who Dares Wins

          It’s a tough one, I’d say that years (plural) is the key point in my interpretation – would Joe Public thing Eggheads had ever really been away since it debuted if this was a genuine Tenable category? Probably not

          Reply
  8. Alex

    If we’re counting reality/panel shows:

    Mock the Week – 2005
    I’m a Celeb – 2002
    Strictly – 2004 (I think?)
    The Apprentice – 2005 (I think?)
    Celebrity Juice – no clue

    Reply
    1. Jason

      Celebrity Juice did a 10th anniversary last year, which would make it 2008.

      Reply
  9. Matt Clemson

    Where do we draw the line between gameshows and sports? I’m just musing on World’s Strongest Man, which I think I’d say that I watch with a ‘gameshow mentality’ – if that’s even a meaningful concept!

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      1. Jason

        I would have thought of it as a formal sporting event now even though the origins are more gameshowy. I recall talk of a governing body at one stage, although not sure what the current state of that is.

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      2. Alex

        It doesn’t *quite* go back as far as you’d think, because they took 1987 off for some reason.

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    1. Chris M. Dickson

      Really interesting question. Doing some investigation, but staying strictly away from trying to answer the central question of this whole thread, World’s Strongest Man started as what Wikipedia describes as follows:

      With no precedent for a worldwide ‘Strongman’ competition, the concept of a strongman competitor and event was new, and as such, the competitors came from a wide range of existing disciplines, including American football, powerlifting and track and field. This meant that none of the competitors had ever trained for the events taking place during the competition.

      That feels like something with the game show nature to me; if someone hadn’t said “I think this would make a good show”, the competition wouldn’t have happened. On the other hand, if in later years, a broadcaster had decided not to show the event one year for some reason, the event would probably still have gone ahead (presumably funded by its other revenues, including revenue from other broadcasters) and then it feels like coverage of a sporting event. Would you fancy going up to a World’s Strongest Man participant and calling them a game show contestant? I wouldn’t, but I’d watch you doing so… from a safe distance. If World’s Strongest Man is on the list then we need to play Elevenable instead.

      At the other end of the scale, I used to be convinced that Late Night Poker had the game show nature, and it’s true that if the Late Night Poker show hadn’t existed then there wouldn’t have been that particular tournament. If the Late Night Poker show hadn’t existed then there would have been plenty of other poker tournaments which might have been televised, hole card camera or otherwise, so it feels more like coverage of a sporting event to me.

      Reply
      1. Jason

        Aside: History of Late Night Poker (posted a few years ago) – https://www.pokerlistings.com/the-history-of-late-night-poker-pt-1-a-cast-and-a-revelation-89645

        Personally, I would class it as an invitational sporting event as well – it had a professional tournament director, formal structure, buy-in and prize pool similar to any other poker series. The hole card camera part was certainly innovative (and changed poker broadcasting) but apart from being made-for-TV I can’t think of anything that would push it into the game show category.

        Reply
  10. Matt Clemson

    It’s academic since there was a clear hiatus between 2007 and 2013, but how would we judge something like Whose Line Is It Anyway, which effectively migrated to the US fairly seamlessly and *then* evolved into something US-specific but clearly shares the same roots?

    I guess Penn & Teller: Fool Us is somewhat similar in that regard. Not sure if there’s anything that actually troubles the core list, though!

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  11. Chris M. Dickson

    Pushing this forward, do we reckon there are at least ten shows with, say, a 15-year streak? Clearly there are well over ten with a 10-year streak, and it might be that a 2005 or 2006 show turns out to crawl onto the tail of the top ten, but let’s see if the baseline to make the list is 15 years.

    (Let’s say that World’s Strongest Man is not a Tenable answer, by the incredibly tenuous virtue that by the time coverage of it had started in the UK it had turned from a game show originally called The World’s Strongest Men into a broadcast of an existing sporting event.)

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  12. Jason

    It feels like 15 years could be the line at the moment – we’ve probably cleared out the 10 year list. Collecting what we’ve said so far (to help push this forward – question marks are unknowns or unsure)

    * University Challenge (?)
    * A Question of Sport (?)
    * Eurovision Song Contest (?)
    * Have I Got News For You (?)
    * Quiz Of The Year (?)
    * Got Talent (?)
    * 8/10 Cats (?)

    * Countdown (1982)
    * Bargain Hunt (~20 years?)
    * I’m A Celeb (2002)
    * Eggheads (2003)
    * Strictly (2004?)
    * Mastermind Redux (~15 years?)
    * Mock The Week (2005)
    * The Apprentice (2005?)
    * Who Dares Wins (~2007?)
    * Celebrity Juice (2008)
    * The Chase / Only Connect / Pointless (~2009?)

    Discounted: Saturday Night Takeaway (long break from 2009), Worlds Strongest Man (sporting event)

    Reply
  13. Chris B

    8/10 Cats started the same year as Mock The Week but has had too many breaks of multiple years without a regular episode in the “Does Countdown” era so should be taken off the list imo.

    HIGNFY started in 1990 as Thatcher was still PM when it launched! BGT was 2007.

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    1. Steve Williams

      I wouldn’t discount 8 Out Of 10 Cats – last year was the only year since it began in 2005 where there wasn’t a new episode (there were only Christmas specials in 2015) but I don’t think eighteen months is that long a gap to suggest it was completely out of production. It’s probably no longer a break than Who Dares Wins has had between runs.

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      1. Chris B

        Even though there was a special in 2015, there have been essentially two 2-year gaps in the past 5 years between full series, which the public, I would argue, have noticed. There have been plenty of online comments during Catsdown of the “yeah, but do they even bother with the regular series anymore”.

        It’s tough, because the spin-off muddies the waters a little. Arguably when 8 out of 10 Cats came back it was a soft reboot, but a different channel (twice) with different team captains. Wherever we are judging the line of “how continuing is continuing”, 8 out of 10 Cats is a good litmus test that (IMO) just about falls short

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        1. Chris B

          I meant to put in there “Same host, but different team captains”, which again confuses things!

          Reply
  14. Chris M. Dickson

    I declare it open season on looking the answers up and seeing how close we came, by the way.

    Reply
  15. Chris M. Dickson

    Lord Iain of Weavershire has performed yeoman’s work (if a lord can be a yeoman… I’m mixing my metaphors too much here) and produced what I’m going to consider to be the definitive answers. Thoroughly and impressively, he has produced a list way beyond the top ten, so that you might select your own top ten according to precisely where you draw the line between game show and not.

    Many thanks, Iain! The rest of us are all, at best, tolerable at Tenable.

    Reply
    1. Jason

      Many thanks Iain also – that’s a fantastic effort.

      We didn’t ask for, or make, a clarification on regional vs network programming:
      * Can i Gymru (3) is broadcast on S4C
      * Cardiff Singer of the World (7) *was* broadcast on BBC2 until 2011, but relegated to BBC2 Wales thereafter.
      * Cor Cymru (13) is hosted every second year, and broadcast on S4C

      From our previous discussions:
      * The five “must be there” picks were all in – University Challenge (1994; 9 or 7), A Question of Sport (1970; 2), Eurovision Song Contest (1956; 1), Have I Got News For You (1990; 8 or 6) and Countdown (1982; 6 or 5).
      * Our linesetter could have got us in trouble – Bargain Hunt (2000; 10 or 8) made the list but Eggheads (2003, 14 or 11) did not – the regional clarification would not have saved us either.
      * We missed all three welsh game shows – but of the top 15 we also missed One Man and his Dog, Young Musician of the Year and surprisingly… QI

      Fun little exercise all the same… and interesting how far off our initial line was – Only Connect was outside the top 25!

      Reply

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